Constitutional Council Discusses Parliament Extension Appeal

The Constitutional Council held a meeting on Friday to discuss the appeal of the Free Patriotic Movement MPs against the law that extended the term of parliament until June 2017.

No decision was taken following the talks.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted a Council member as saying ahead of the meeting that the study of the report on the appeal requires more than one session.

The members were expected to make their “preliminary observations” on it, he said.

But he stressed that the Council could no longer limit the extended term to a “technical or administrative” mandate of less than a year because the parliament's new term started Thursday.

The Council held last Thursday its first meeting to discuss the issue. Its head Issam Suleiman pledged that the body would meet the quorum to discuss the extension law.

Earlier this month, 95 lawmakers voted to extend their mandate by another two years and seven months.

They skipped scheduled elections for the second consecutive time claiming Lebanon's security situation is too dire to allow holding polls amid neighboring Syria's civil war.

But the FPM claimed when challenging the law that Lebanon is not at war and that the security situation is not bad enough to prevent the general elections.

The vote gave parliament eight full years in power— double its allowed mandate — to June 2017. The FPM MPs and Kataeb party representatives boycotted the session while two voted against the law.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since May, when President Michel Suleiman stepped down after his six-year term ended without a replacement.